TE Job Open After Wes Phillips Joins Redskins' Staff

IRVING, Texas – The Cowboys have lost another coach, and this one has been with the team for the past seven years.

But tight ends coach Wes Phillips is apparently heading to the Redskins after meeting with the club in Washington on Thursday.

Neither organization has made an official announcement but club officials at Valley Ranch have confirmed Phillips is leaving. Phillips even changed his Facebook profile picture to a Washington Redskins logo.

Phillips joined the Cowboys in 2007 on his dad’s first staff in Dallas. Wade Phillips made his son a quality control coach but Wes eventually worked his way up to assistant offensive line coach and then tight ends coach this past offseason, long after Wade Phillips was fired as head coach in the middle of the 2010 season.

Wes Phillips’ contract expired after the 2013 season so he was technically a coaching “free agent.” He will likely become the Redskins’ tight end coach after Sean McVay was promoted from that position to offensive coordinator by new head coach Jay Gruden.

Phillips’ seven years with the Cowboys will likely be a great asset to a new coaching staff unfamiliar to the NFC East. Not only does Phillips know the Cowboys’ offense inside and out, along with most of the defensive personnel, but he’s also studied the Giants and Eagles closely as well in his preparations to play these division rivals twice a year.

So far this offseason, the Cowboys have lost four coaches whose contracts had expired – assistant special teams coach Chris Boniol, offensive assistant Dave Borganzi and assistant coach Mikal Smith. Borganzi and Smith, the son of new Bucs coach Lovie Smith, both went to Tampa Bay. Boniol said it was a “mutual decision” to part ways with the Cowboys.

Other coaches whose contract have expired include Ben Bloom, Joe Baker and Keith O’Quinn, who could be a candidate to replace Phillips as tight ends coach. Read